1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to burner nozzles for burning petroleum products during well testing, and more particularly, to a burner nozzle having a substantially conical tip and fluid inlet ports disposed at an acute angle with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the insert.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Burner nozzles in which petroleum products are burned, and in particular, those used to dispose of products of oil well testing, are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,995 to Krause discloses a nozzle with petroleum products and air mixed by the nozzle to facilitate burning of the petroleum products. U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,619 to Johnson et al. discloses a burner nozzle for mixing petroleum products to be burned with air in which air is injected from an air jacket or can into a petroleum stream, exiting an oil orifice. The air jacket is spaced from the oil orifice and its petroleum product supply line such that any leakage of petroleum is directed into a space between the supply line and the air jacket so that the petroleum products cannot be forced under pressure into the air jacket. This burner nozzle utilizes an oil swirl chamber with the oil orifice integral therewith and which is attached to an oil conduit such as by welding. A plurality of air exit holes are defined in a spacer at an end of the air jacket adjacent to the oil surface. The air exit holes direct air from an annulus in the air jacket into the oil stream. These air jets serve to atomize the oil stream to facilitate burning.
In copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/350,105, an air jet is disclosed which defines an annular air orifice therein to provide an even stream of air around the circumference of the petroleum stream to insure better atomization and more efficient burning.
Also in the apparatus of our prior application, a swirl chamber is provided with inlet ports or entrance orifices which are substantially perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis of the swirl chamber and the nozzle, and the ports are offset from the center line. This arrangement of ports is relatively conventional. In a swirl chamber having four ports, this geometry creates a swirl which produces a substantially conical fluid pattern as the fluid is discharged from the nozzle. The orientation of the ports is such that each jets into the one adjacent to it, and the fluid stream splits. One side of the split fluid stream continues through the swirl chamber, and the other side is directed to the rear wall or back plate of the swirl chamber where severe erosion can occur.
The present invention solves this erosion problem by providing a replaceable insert with a swirl chamber portion in which the inlet port or entrance orifices are disposed at an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal axis. This provides a gradual entrance directed forward which reduces erosion in the rear wall or back plate of the swirl chamber and also reduces erosion in the conical nozzle portion of the insert as well. This new design also has the advantage of allowing foreign matter and other debris to pass through the ports more easily than previous designs.